Category: Universals Archive

Universal 784: Original The preferred number of primary oral stops in a given language is between four and eight. Standardized The preferred number of primary…

Universal 800: isolating ⇒ classifiersagglutinative v flexive ⇒ classes Original Languages that tend towards isolating (such as most of those in east and south-east Asia)…

Universal 816: Original Diphthongs exist only in languages which have or had long vowels. Standardized IF there are diphthongs, THEN there are or were long…

Universal 832: Original A language with one or more laterals has a voiced lateral approximant. Standardized IF there is any other lateral, THEN there will…

Universal 848: Original In initial clusters, the existence of at least one cluster consisting of a liquid + nasal implies the existence of at least…

Universal 864: Original In final clusters, except for unvoiced obstruents followed by a voiced nasal, an unvoiced consonant or sequence of unvoiced consonants following a…

Universal 880: high back unrounded vowel ⇒ high front unrounded vowel Original A high back unrounded vowel implies a high front unrounded vowel. Standardized IF…

Universal 896: imperfective aspect ⇔ indefinite, partitive, non-referential object Original There is an affinity between aspect and object individuation, insofar as the imperfective (progressive, frequentative,…

Universal 912: Original Agreement is often carried out in such a way that the verb agrees with noun phrases higher in animacy, and fails to…

Universal 928: Original Standardized If in a given context nasal-vowel (NV) sequences occur, and /u/ represents the highest back rounded vowel appearing in these sequences,…